French Onion Soup Dumplings

This classic Chinese style of soup dumpling is filled with french onion soup!

Prep Time1

Cook Time20

making the broth1

Total Time1 1 20

Servings: dumplings

Calories: 147kcal

Place the pork, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper, into a slow cooker. Go easy on the salt for now. Set the slow cooker to high and fill with water to just cover the pork. Allow to cook on high for about 10 hours.
Strain out the solids. Taste the broth. If it is too intense tasting you can add a little water to thin it out, but don't add too much or it will not solidify. Allow the broth to cool in the fridge overnight. There will be a large amount of fat on the top of the broth. Scoop the fat off with a spoon.
The broth should be solid. Store in the fridge for a few days or freezer if longer until ready to use.

Dice the onion very small. Add to a pan along with the butter and bay leaf. Cook on medium heat stirring often for about an hour until very browned and reduced to about 3/4 of a cup. Remove the bay and stir in the thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool fully.
Measure out 1 cup of the solidified pork broth. Put this in a bowl along with the onion mixture and stir well. The broth will break up and everything will get nicely mixed. Put this in the fridge for at least a half hour before using.

Bring the water to a boil. Add the flour to a food processor along with a big pinch of salt. With the processor running, add in the boiling water. Keep running as the dough comes together. Allow to run for 30 seconds with the dough in there.
Remove the dough from the food processor and work it with your hands for 2 minutes. Place into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Section out your dough into 40 even balls. Roll out each ball into a 3.5 inch round. Stack them up with a little flour between each layer, and cover the stack as you go with a damp towel.
One by one, preferably with friends, build your dumplings. Place the wrapper in your hand and put a tablespoon of the filling in the center. Slowly form pleats or creases on the edges of the wrapper, bringing the edges into the center as you go. Once they all meet in the center, make sure it is sealed with minimal air in the center and twist it a little to further enhance the seal.
There are many tutorials and videos to help you with the previous step, check the link above or search on your own!
Put the dumplings into a steamer with napa cabbage lining the bottom. Cover and steam about 8 minutes.
Remove the dumplings from the steamer and place onto a greased baking sheet. Put a thin slice of gruyere onto each dumpling and broil on high to melt the cheese and lightly brown.